5 Tips to Optimise Your Email Marketing

Email Marketing is an efficient tool in the online marketing mix. However, you must bear in mind a few things, if you wish to use the pull potential of this tool. The following five tips will help you to optimise your email marketing.

1. Generate opt-ins at all relevant touchpointsSetting up a mailing list plays a vital role in email marketing. You should therefore carefully consider at which touchpoints there will be contact with existing or potential customers. Use all touchpoints to generate opt-ins. For example, the conclusion of a purchase process would be a suitable opportunity to offer the customer a newsletter subscription. Trust and interest are very high at this point and a new customer would be happy about purchase ideas.

The newsletter should be prominent and clearly visible on the start page, e. g. as a strategically placed link in the navigation bar or a direct input field.Use immediately visible and common key words such as "newsletter". Do not hide your newsletter in sub-categories, such as service or contact. You can even generate opt-ins from contacts on your own social media profile.

Also, use incentives to persuade users to enroll in a subscription. Shop or topic-specific incentives, such as purchase or discount vouchers make sense, as they do not only generate subscribers without real purchase interest or even attract competition services to the page. Furthermore, information or offers, which are only available via email and offer the incentive of a premium service, are an interesting alternative.

2. Integrate Social MediaThe integration of social media and email marketing is not only suitable for opt-in generation but both channels also offer a variety of effective points of contact for synergy effects. Emails can deliver important impulses for the transfer of dialogues into social networks, so, you should follow an integrated dialogue strategy for both channels.

An easily applicable way is the integration of SYWN functions (“Share With Your Network”) in your newsletter. SWYN functions allow users to share content from newsletters in social networks though one click - e. g. by posting it on their facebook wall. In return, social networks offer important content, such as reviews, feedback, personality and up-to-date news, which can be included in the email dialogue.

3. Use transaction emailsThe majority of email communication consists of transaction emails. These transaction emails are automatically triggered through the occurrence of an event, i.e. a transaction of the user. Customers receive information, which directly relates to the specific event. The most common types are order confirmations or dispatch notifications.

Transaction emails receive above average attention. Open rates of up to 80 % are no rarity. This high grade of attention results from the fact that users consider transaction emails as customer service providing relevant and individualised information.Furthermore, transaction emails are mostly expected by the recipient. A precondition for this high level of attention is, of course, that timing and reason for the transaction email has been chosen correctly.

In principle, transaction emails must only contain non-promotional information. However, exceptions prove the rule.Complying with strict legal conditions, transaction emails can still be used for cross and up-sale offers.

4. Pay attention to the legal frameworkNot only the promotional use of transaction emails requires the exact knowledge of legal basics. Also, during the collection of personal user data you must comply with the legal requirements. The legally compliant handling of data is not only a tiresome duty, it is a decisive competitive advantage, even when dealing with an increasingly sensitive public when it comes to data security.

5. Use unusual trigger emailsMany providers use trigger emails, e. g. to wish someone a happy birthday or send offers for certain holidays. However, while a customer may be bored by the tenth Christmas mailing, his attention will be with you, when you surprise him on an unusual occasion. An email on his name day, an anniversary email for the first purchase or "birthday" of a product ("Your DVD player is 1 year old") could be a suitable trigger. However, the content must be interesting or at least entertaining. If you only provide product offers, the moment of high attention will turn into disappointment.